I’m starting a general bug thread for this issue… I thought there was one already but I can’t find it, so maybe it’s a thread for specific cards
I think this bug affects a number of different cards in the game
Echocasting Symposium is one that I found today: if you select ‘Not Now’, it casts anyway and does nothing.
It’s not true that it does nothing. The paradigm process still resolves. It exiles itself with a knowledge emblem to set up for triggering at the beginning of your turns. You’re only not nowing the copy effect for that turn.
A spell casting after you not now during target selection if it can still do something without a target is the typical outcome. They did completely ignore that standard for Jeskai Revelation so there are exceptions, but as is it is now it’s doing what I’d expect it to do.
The “not now” usually answers a question about selecting a target for one of the possible effects, it is not always asking “would you like to cast this now”
Which is frustrating TBH
Related: Will of the Abzan will cast even if Greg has no creatures and there are no creatures in graveyards; it is wasted for no effect
Actually now I think of it, this is kinda the same problem isn’t it… the card casts first, and then checks if it can do anything or you want to target something. If it can’t do anything (e.g. Will of the Abzan), of you don’t want to target something (e.g. Echocasting Symposium), then the card is wasted.
So, in fact, this also is a related issue to this thread:
Cards are casting when we don’t want them to. Most cards, especially control cards, should have the option whether to cast them or not. A few cards, like Tempt with Discovery, perhaps, don’t need an option… and, indeed, many combo players, who spend single turns casting card after card after card, don’t want to interact with the game to select ‘Yes, please cast the next card!’ as their engine goes off, they want to set their phone down, watch some TV, and come back 20 minutes later to discover that they’ve won (or, perhaps, just as likely, that their screen timed out, and MTGPQ reset in the background because the app is so unstable ^_^)… but combo players aren’t going to be playing with anything that might have a deletereous effect on them as they combo off.
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Related: Will of the Abzan will cast even if Greg has no creatures and there are no creatures in graveyards; it is wasted for no effect
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@Janosik Doesn’t option A still make the opponent lose 10 life even if they don’t have a creature? It’s worded that way anyway but it’s a card I’ve rarely used so I don’t recall.
I don’t believe so
Tendrils of Agony also casts without asking; if you select ‘Not Now’ when selecting a target you do not get to keep the spell (it casts, and you gain life)
Okay I double checked it and nothing happens. I cast it as the first card of the fight so there weren’t any opposing creatures or creature cards in graveyards. I’d be okay with it defaulting to option A when neither graveyard has a creature since option A doesn’t require choosing any targets but the opponent should at least lose the 10 life if it’s going to do that.
If they’re going to spend any time changing these cards at all, I’d much rather they added a confirmation box to choose whether you want to cast them or not… not just have them *always* cast, and sometimes not do anything in a different way than before
But it would be be making the opponent lose 10 life which isn’t nothing. There’s always been a focus on minimizing the number of prompts. That seems unlikely to change but they do usually stop spells from casting that literally do nothing though. Endless detour is the only card off hand that I can think of that made it all the way to legacy with the ability to cast without doing anything. As long as a spell at least does something I don’t mind it casting because there is the option to disable cards in hand before your swap so you get a decent amount of control over when your spells. Particularly in cases nothing bad happens to you. I get more wanting a failsafe against doing bad stuff to yourself.
Expressive Iteration casts when you select ‘Not Now’; it does nothing and goes to the graveyard.
Yeah that is weird. The exiling cards part is conditional on the fetch so it makes sense that it doesn’t do that part but the gem conversion should be happening even if you not now the fetch and it isn’t.
Fodder Launch casts when you select ‘Not Now’; it kills no creature, but still deals 5 damage to the opponent, and goes to the graveyard.
Flame Javelin casts when you select ‘Not Now’, it doesn’t deal any damage, but oddly enough did gain mana when I had more creatures than my opponent (even tho that’s not the corrent functionality of the “Then:” clause)